Important NALC win: National-level arbitration case decided on ‘Work and Time Standards Video Recording’
USPS notified NALC of its plan to use video recordings of letter carriers in upcoming NALC contract talks and possibly interest arbitration.
NALC filed a national-level grievance after USPS informed them of the plan to conduct a unilateral review of city letter carrier office activities to gather data for national negotiations during the 2011 round of bargaining. The Postal Service video recorded 400 city letter carriers performing office duties in different places around the country. The NALC took the position that the Postal Service’s actions violated Article 34 of the National Agreement.
In a letter dated April 8, 2011 from USPS Labor Relations to NALC President Fred Rolando:
This is notification that the Postal Service will conduct a review of city letter carrier office activities beginning April 25. The review will involve data collection and analysis of all office activities on selected routes for one day, with the route serviced by the regular carrier or carrier technician. It is anticipated that this assessment will take approximately nine weeks and involve 400 city letter carrier routes.
A stratified sampling plan was used to randomly select delivery units within each Area. To qualify, delivery units must contain at least ten city letter carrier routes. Four routes from each selected delivery unit will be randomly chosen for review.
During the review, mail volume will be recorded and cameras will be used to record time spent on office tasks. This information will be used to identify the start and stop point of each activity and determine the actual time used.
The data is being collected in preparation for upcoming collective bargaining.
USPS also notified NRLCA that it would be placing video cameras in some LLV’s and POV’s on rural routes in order to collect information/data for use in negotiations and possible interest arbitration.
In an award dated Aug. 9, 2016, National Arbitrator Dennis Nolan sustained the NALC’s position when he ruled, “Article 34 applies to time or work studies designed to be used in negotiations or interest arbitration as well as to studies designed to be used for changing work measurement systems or work or time standards during the term of an Agreement.”
Conclusions
Article 34 grants the Union the rights to be notified of, and to observe, time or work studies to be used as a basis for changing work measurement systems or work or time standards. The negotiated language contains no exemptions for studies conducted toward the end of a contract or for studies designed to be used in collective bargaining or interest arbitration. Arbitrator Bloch’s careful interpretation of a similar provision in the NRLCA contract rejected the Postal Service’s arguments against reading Article 34 literally and is entitled to substantial weight when interpreting Article 34 in the NALC contract. The Postal Service’s attempts to distinguish the two contracts were unpersuasive. Allowing that degree of Union observation of studies leading up to contract negotiations does not necessarily defy logic or common sense. It is therefore appropriate to read Article 34 just as it is written, to apply to all such studies.
AWARD
The grievance is sustained. The Postal Service is directed to comply with Article 34 when conducting time or work studies designed for use in collective bargaining or interest arbitration. NALC
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are they going to record how long it takes a letter carrier to take a well deserved crap in the morning?
I agree. thanks nalc. this letter was published in 2011 and we are just getting a response in 2016? that’s what is wrong with the PO
have yo agree, the union is a shell of its former gritty self. our branch 24 vice-president agrees more with management than carriers. so we have nowhere to turn.
Film the toolbags and thugs over a weekly period during their
shifts and see what comes out of that. I would bet a hundred
to one that they would all cringe at the thought of being seen
in their true immoral, unethical, and unhuman ways. fire
them all
All management does is push, scream, and discipline. Video cameras, scanners, and yes in the future, predator drones must follow those lazy carriers! Those awful employees just want to steal time. just wait till Mr. bankruptcy becomes President. He hates unions, thinks workers are over paid, and look how he has treated his employees! His vice Presidential mate made his state a right to work for free state. Be careful of what you wish for! You might get what you want. Many carriers hate the NALC, just try the Postal Service alone!
They just want to kill the Post Office!
I bet the post office in Moscow is better run than the post office in New York……..someone put a fork in this place-its done! PO Mismanagement and PO Company Unions just want to maintain the status quo to line their pockets-both could care less about the working person. I hope President Trump does as he said he would concerning a ESOP and then let the chips fall where they may. Federal Government sucks at running anything! if I was President Trump I would sell it off to UPS, FDX, or Amazon and make them take on the workers……..they can dump the PO mismanagement and po unions and just Go Teamsters!
USPS management already has scanners, MSP points, GPS, which on a functional level is a sick joke, sometimes missing scan verification addresses by a couple city blocks, or doesn’t go off when you’re at the address, and then sounds off when you pass it sometimes a couple hours later, leave to street and return to office scans, and regular observation on the workroom floor. To claim justification for cameras is ridiculous and redundant, but then again that’s par for the course with management.
They are going around demanding “explanations” again for not meeting “DOIS projections”, knowing damn good and well those are estimates and are not supposed to be used as tools for harassment, nor can they use the figures by themselves as tools for discipline. What’s the deal here? Do they not understand the MOU that forbid them from doing just that? I say they do, and it’s just another effort coming close to the end of the fiscal year to bully and intimidate those who allow themselves to be bullied in an effort to gain more bonus bucks at years’ end.
Mark my words: the talk about how they are training supervisors to be “motivators” and an encouraging and positive presence on the workroom floor for a harmonious workplace environment is pure bullshit. They will pounce as turnover increases with a lot of long time carriers retiring, abusing CCA’s, delaying the filling of open positions, and refusal to acknowledge or encourage accurate delivery in favor of running and performing in a reckless and unsafe manner, it being easy to shitcan a CCA who gets hurt or in an at fault accident because they’re intimidated by managerial pressure.
We will not see route adjustments any time soon until enough retirees are gone. The parcel loads will increase, the volumes will be short shifted, as I know for a fact our parcel count at our office has been way under the actual volume, and management will prefer paying overtime rather than adjust routes to reflect the changes we’ve experienced.
I am retiring soon, and I’m glad of it. It will be a nightmare soon, and my union seems totally indifferent to its CCA’s plight. The NALC has lost its backbone and keeps us in the dark concerning contract talks. If you are from a small office in a small town, or a state without a couple metropolises to pour the dues money into the union coffers, you are nothing but an annoyance. Politics suck no matter where they exist.
Thank you for the well thought out and quite factual representation of the situation as it exists today.